Reflections
by Thanos6
Summary: Set just before the first game in the series. Things are not as they should be. It's Dr. Light who's decided to try and conquer the world, and Dr. Wily who's trying to stop him (so he can conquer it himself; some things DON'T change). What exactly is going on here?
1. Not This Time

Dr. Albert W. Wily hummed to himself as he ran a comb through what was left of his hair. He wasn't usually full of so much energy this early in the morning, but after all…

Today was the big day!

Today he was going to infiltrate the home of his former partner, Dr. Thomas Light. It doubled as Light's laboratory, and housed his experimental next-generation robots. He would reprogram these "Robot Masters," then have them lead the army of lesser automata he had created here, at his secret manufacturing plant on a deserted Pacific Island. Then nothing could stop him from taking over the world, and at last achieving the recognition he'd deserved for so many years, but which only Thomas has ever been given (life was so unfair).

The glorious images of world conquest floated in his mind's eye. Building his Skull Castle, an impenetrable fortress from which he would rule. Creating an entire city with nothing but his own experiments, no matter how bizarre or outlandish…a Monsteropolis, if you will. Thomas kneeling at his feet and confessing who the superior roboticist truly was. Proclaiming himself the supreme master of the Earth. Why, he could almost hear the words now.

Actually, he could.

He blinked and stalked into his communications center, which allowed him to monitor—and hijack—broadcasts from all over the world. He had been planning to use it for the first time when he returned with the Robot Masters, so he could make his demands to his future cowering subjects. But it looked like someone else was stealing his thunder. A familiar bearded face covered each of the dozens and dozens of monitors that ringed the room.

_Thomas?_

"So let me repeat," his former colleague was saying, with an edge in his voice that Wily had never heard before. "Acknowledge me as the world's rightful ruler, and I shall call off my Robot Masters and their troops, and end the devastation. Continue to resist, and…" He grinned evilly, in a manner most unsuited to his Santa Claus-like face. "…We'll see if the graves can be dug faster than they can be filled."

Thoughts spun through Dr. Wily's mind like a hurricane. This wasn't the Light he was used to, naïve and gentle and trusting and as threatening as a marshmallow. What had happened to him?

For that matter, what had happened to the world? He hadn't checked the news this morning. Where had the Robot Masters been deployed to, and what kind of havoc were they wreaking?

And in the eye of the hurricane, one thought established itself with a calm fury.

_You will NOT upstage me again, Thomas._

Without even realizing it, he snapped his comb in half.


	2. Counter-Scheming

Dr. Wily used his communications center to quickly scan news feeds and secure military channels (_a two-year old could have broken their encryption_, he thought, forgetting that most two-year olds didn't have supercomputers).

The situation was problematic indeed. Eight highly complex humanoid robots, each leading a small army's worth of their less advanced relatives on a mission of conquest. Neither police nor military forces had been able to stop them. By assigning the Robot Masters to take over heavily populated areas, Dr. Light had prevented the authorities from breaking out heavy weaponry for fear of civilian casualties, while also having plenty of hostages to execute should the world prove slow to bow to his rule. _Clever, Thomas._

He folded his hands under his chin, thinking quickly. His best option was a decapitation strike, to take out Light quickly and disable…or even better, take control of…all the robots at once. Unfortunately, that would prove difficult. No doubt he had fled Light Labs and taken refuge in some faraway stronghold, just as Wily himself had done.

His next best option was to take out the Robot Masters. The forces of the world were trying and failing to do that themselves, of course, but they didn't possess his unrivaled genius.

He had many robots himself, with the capacity to make thousands more, but they too could fall under a Robot Master's control if sent to attack directly. He also had his greatest invention, an organic blob-like creation composed of highly durable, amorphous gel. He called it his Yellow Devil, and used it as a guard for the factory. It could not be controlled by one of Light's robots, and he'd bet his skull that it could beat any of them, but it would probably be damaged in the process. Its unique physiology meant that repairing it would be an extensive process, and he didn't want to leave himself without it defending him while Light could still send the surviving Robot Masters to hunt him down.

No, he'd need something else. But what?

He could feel something nagging at his mind. Light's robots…something about Light's robots…

He snapped his fingers and mentally reviewed the list of Robot Masters who were attacking. He had aided in their design, and thus knew the **D**octor **L**ight **N**umber each of them had been assigned during their creation (though really, they should have been given a DLWN, or even better, a DWLN).

_Cut Man. DLN-003._

_Guts Man. DLN-004._

_Ice Man. DLN-005._

_Bomb Man. DLN-006._

_Fire Man. DLN-007._

_Elec Man. DLN-008._

_Time Man. DLN-00A._

_Oil Man. DLN-00B._

That left DLN-001 and DLN-002 unaccounted for. Those were the ones Light used as personal assistants. He seemed to think of them as his children. He had even given them ludicrous musical themed names. What were they? Hip and Hop, or something like that? There was a strong possibility that Light had taken them with him to his secret redoubt, but there was always a chance that he had left them behind to guard Light Labs, or simply abandoned them due to their uselessness in battle.

He turned and hurried out of his communications center, down one of the factory's long corridors, toward the hangar. He had to get to Light Labs before the cops or military did.

Inside the hangar was another of his brilliant inventions, what he liked to call the Wily UFO. It was a small golden craft, essentially a one-man flying saucer. As he climbed inside and pulled the crimson canopy shut, instrument panels and monitors lit up. This was the fastest vehicle in the world (it had to be; no other vehicle had him as its designer), and he was sure it could get him to Light Labs before anyone else. And then, if he could find Light's "children," he could start to pry their creator's secrets from them.

By any means necessary.


	3. A Back Door To The Front Door

Getting into Light Labs was child's play. His old colleague never realized he had encoded a master override into the lab's programming. He typed the password (56729459, or "LORDWILY") into the exterior keypad. The door hissed open and every defensive measure in the building shut down. He had beaten everyone else here. Now to see what he could salvage, and then get out before the authorities arrived.

On first glance, there wasn't much. It looked as if Light had taken almost everything in the place. The only thing of significance that had been left behind was the massive IBN supercomputer that took up most of one wall. He had to assume that it was too big for Light to transport. He would probably just rely on the computer's encryption and other security measures to keep its information safe; by the time someone from the government was able to break through, it would probably be too late to help them.

Of course, no one from the government had LORDWILY helping out, did they?

_-W-_

Dr. Wily had only managed to copy a few batches of files when he heard the rumblings of large, heavy vehicles outside. He cursed to himself; the military or police had arrived sooner than he'd expected. The computer spat out the disk it had just finished working with. Wily tossed it into the cardboard box he'd been throwing the others into, instituted immediate shutdown for the computer, grabbed the box, and ran.

He wasn't as young as he used to be, a fact which became apparent by the time he exited the lab. He was already having trouble breathing.

The sight of several armored vehicles pulling up near his Wily UFO didn't help.

He threw the box into the saucer, then jumped in after it with an agility he didn't believe he was still capable of. As he activated the autopilot and the canopy slid shut, he heard loud voices ordering him to stop and to come out with his hands up.

"I'm trying to save you, you fools," he muttered to himself as his craft took to the air. Granted, he was saving them so he could rule them himself, but that still counted, didn't it? He heard shots ring out, but they didn't concern him; he had armored this Wily UFO well enough to shrug off hits from anything less powerful than a plasma cannon.

The saucer accelerated, and Dr. Wily glanced down at the box full of disks. They had some of Dr. Light's secrets inside. He just hoped they were valuable ones.

___-W-_

Back in his Pacific factory, he sat at his control station. As he waited for the first of Light's disks to load, he checked on the status of his other ongoing project.

Some of the robots that he'd created here were acting as his guards, but most of them had been dispatched to a remote location in the Andes Mountains, secretly toiling away on one of the most momentous construction projects of all-time: Skull Castle. Once this business with Light was done, it was from here that he would rule the world, an impregnable fortress that no armed force could ever hope to take. It looked like the building was coming along very well. The outer wall was complete, the turrets were almost all installed, and the castle itself was quickly taking shape inside the perimeter.

His console beeped, and he reluctantly turned away from the beautiful sight of his future seat of power.

_All right, Thomas. Let's see which of your creations I can turn back on you._


End file.
